


Hands Held Close

by peoriapeoria



Series: Omega [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Gender, Kink, M/M, Omega Verse, Orientation, Parenthood, Presentation, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2017-12-28 01:34:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This continues from A Secret Kept, and there is Science. Oh, and sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hands Held Close

The world was a strange place. Tony had been on suppressants and faux scent for a very long time. _I knocked up Captain America._ Tony had bonded with Steve, who had gone into heat, triggering Tony's rut. Tony still didn't get why Howard had been so ready to think he was an Omega. He didn't understand how he _had_ been an Omega. Tony hadn't imagined getting most of his hand up his ass. He'd been that desperate, that wet.

They, Steve and himself, had stayed holed up together until Bruce was sure they'd both settled down hormonally. Part of that was Tony courting Steve after the fact, getting to know more of him than their leader, the man out of time, great lay and future heir producer. Tony still couldn't get his head around that, that there would be another generation of Starks. He'd rather thought the arc reactor, or rather the amount of his lungs sacrificed to it keeping his heart free of shrapnel, precluded that.

He wasn't unaware of the Freudian overtones of the situation. Howard had only had good words for Rogers; Howard had always had a mouth. Tony wondered just what the story was about Peggy shooting Steve. It had certainly made an impression on Howard. Tony had to be satisfied that his dad had never known Steve wasn't an Alpha.

Howard liked Betas. Tony doesn't know if that changed after Maria or not. Tony had been sent to boarding school at five and returned home at twelve. Returned very quietly with a large sum tendered. Nurse had saved him, and doomed him. Howard hadn't needed an Omega, a worthless heir. It was possible to get him tutors and switch them out just before Tony's heat, not replacing them until after the heat.

Tony got suppressants for MIT. It was while he was at MIT that he learned of the Omega Octagon. The eight schools had been taking Betas of exceptional merit as well for a few decades, but the name had stuck. Howard was livid when Tony shared a writing credit with a few of their students.

So, Tony was finding the world as an Alpha, an actual Alpha, pretty strange. _I've got Captain America at home, barefoot and pregnant._ Steve probably was wearing Keds, he liked knowing he didn't have to stop for shoes. He tended to switch them when he was leaving the private floors, which had had Barton in stitches.

That, that right there was annoying. He kept giving himself fist-pumping rah-rahs inside his head. Now, Tony was the last person not to think he was amazing. Some of the things he did, utterly amazing. Going into rut, Alphas had been doing that forever. Just because fortune meant it had been his elevator...

Tony wanted to deserve Steve. Eventually, this was going to come out, not the specifics, no the world was not ready for Captain America to be an Omega, but that they were together couldn't be hidden indefinitely. The spin was going to be a rumor campaign that the Man with a Plan was a Beta, which Steve wouldn't deny. Tony could tell Steve neither liked the plan nor disagreed with its need.

So Tony was busy doing his best to keep the Board sweet, and do what Pepper judged advantageous for Stark Industries. The Board was mostly Alphas with a few Betas rounding them out; according to Bruce, it was things like that which had made him present as an Omega.

Bruce didn't think the Serum gave Steve the ability to change Omegas into Alphas. He thought this was something inherent to Tony. It was rather the raspberry from the universe to Howard if so. It wasn't Tony's kind of science.  
\---------------------

"Tony!" Steve greeted him at the elevator, sniffing him behind each ear, pressing a kiss to soft skin. Tony leaned into the embrace.

"How are you?" Tony accepted Steve's tactile response, carding his fingers through Steve's hair. "Steve?"

Steve stepped to one side and guided them to the couch. "The baby's fine, the doctor thinks I won't show much prior to delivery." He sat and Tony followed. Tony looked up, a little curious about their positions. It wasn't that he minded being the small spoon, that just was a fact; he was smaller than Steve. He recalled years of wanting nothing more than to be cosseted like this. He arched towards Steve and stole a kiss. Cosseted and much, much more. Tony needed another kiss, and another, and another, swinging a leg so he could straddle Steve.

He smiled as Steve tried to look him in the eyes resting his forehead against Tony's. Tony liked how fresh everything was for Steve-- he wasn't naive, but neither was he jaded by proxy. "Want to fondue?" Tony fought smiling as Steve blushed.

"I should never have told you that story."

"I needed to hear it again." Oops.

"You'd heard it before? Why would anyone tell that story?"

Howard had been drunk. Tony didn't know why he'd shared it, it probably made sense in some sodden way. Steve had told it on himself when he'd tried to figure out modern band names. Fondue Five had become a joke for a time.

He'd been so proud when Steve made a mix list for a fake 'album', complete with art. The ear worm was worth it. Tony kissed Steve and stood, pulling on Steve's hand. Steve got up and let Tony pull him into their bedroom.

That 'Man with a Plan' thing? That was Steve, not just Captain America. Tony was flat on his back with Steve draped over him, thankful that justice had so little to do with love. Kissing Steve was better than flying, explosions and mathematics.

Heat. Pressure. Tony looked down Steve's naked body, marveling at their connection. Steve was shoving down on and pulling up off Tony's cock, rhythmic, beautiful. Tony scraped his palms over Steve's pecs, catching the pink nipples with his calluses. Steve no longer had calluses, or scars, Steve couldn't hold a bruise. He was smooth skin scalp to sole. Tony touches as much of that supple, satin surface as he can reach. Too soon, too soon Tony comes.

"Steve, fuck me." Tony frames Steve face's in his hands. "There's lube in the drawer."

"Tony." Steve squeezes around the length still hard in him.

"Your refractory time is phenomenal." Tony traces over the lax organ. He'd shocked Steve taking it into his mouth. He'd brought Steve off that way, then fucked him hard. He'd wanted Steve to use his mouth after, but hadn't been able to ask. Sometimes he'd have Steve pleasure himself, forbidden to touch his hole.

"Why?"

Tony realized that was not a no. "I was an Omega. I never was bred. I want you every way, Steve. Fill me up, Steve." It wasn't lost on Tony that Steve was keeping him hard. If Tony hadn't been an Omega when he was younger, he might have been able to go a second bout then.

"How?"

"Slick up my hole and put a finger into me, keep sliding it in and out until you can add a second. I'll let you know when to put your slicked up cock deep, balls deep into me."

"I'm bigger than two fingers."

"Your fingers are pretty big. Trust me."

Steve stopped keeping Tony erect. Tony slipped out and Steve slicked over his furl, fingertip dipping in. He kept doing that, not letting Tony rush him. And then Steve was in him, one finger Tony wrapped around. Tony gripped at it, hands moving against Steve's abs. It's maddeningly slow, eons before the second finger is added. It's beautiful, even better than his own hand had ever been. Steve's got a better angle,Tony isn't addled with Heat. Steve is all around him, heat, skin, scent, sound.

Steve moves, kneels between Tony's legs and sheaths himself into Tony. He can't move, can't buck, Steve holds him place. He touches Steve's cheek, his eyebrow, he wants to know what Steve thinks. He moans in frustration as Steve pulls out, almost pulls out, head still inside Tony. He pushes back in soo slow it's painful and perfect, slicker. Steve starts stroking in and out, still deep in Tony, the strokes becoming slightly longer.

Tony can't take it, he needs Steve to fucking fuck him fucking now. "YES!" Steve has rose up on his knees, has Tony splayed open over his forearms and is drilling into Tony. Steve's stamina is legend and he keeps going and going, adding more lube with finesse.

It's rippling through him, thrumming him, wants this always. Tony almost misses the minute hitch of Steve's completion. Tony wraps his legs around Steve not letting him go. Even with the serum Steve eventually softens. He moves. "Steve?"

"Wash-up."

Tony tries to move, but Steve is up and back before Tony can remember how. Tony is mopped down, his cock cleaned and his crack swiped. Tony is pulled into Steve's arms and on top of him. He's learned not to protest this, that it's not bad for the baby, Steve's abs more than sufficient shielding. "You okay?"

"You enjoyed it."

Tony fell asleep.

\----------

Tony didn't ask again. Steve was his due to a fluke of biology, and it wasn't fair for Tony to impose on that further. It had been wonderful, and he wondered if it could have been like that when he was an Omega. If Steve wasn't an Omega; in some universe where Steve was an Alpha he hoped that Tony was an Omega getting fucked every which way and having children left and right. In this universe it wasn't as mindlessly necessary as when he'd been an Omega. He was so lucky he'd wound up Steve's Alpha.

Bruce thought he had some progress on figuring out how that was even possible.

"What do you mean this is common?"

"I wouldn't go that far. Just that I think we've misunderstood genetics a bit."

"I knew you couldn't trust a wet science."

"Hydraulics isn't engineering?"

Tony decided to let it go. "Misunderstood how?"

"Haven't you wondered why the Beta antigen test isn't used more often?"

Asked that way Tony did wonder why he'd never questioned that. "Wasn't there a eugenics issue?"

"Beta-positive only means the subject isn't an Omega. Neither you nor Steve test positive. Alphas sometimes do, Betas always do. Now, there is a so-called Omega test, and while all Omegas test positive on it, some Betas and Alphas do also."

"Are there Alphas that read positive on both?"

"'All the scientists come to Mathematics' yard'. Yes. If that wasn't awkward enough some Betas and Omegas test positive against the Alpha test. There is a fourth test, but like the Omega test all three genders can be positive."

"I'm positive on three out of four."

"And Steve is also negative on the Alpha test. All Omegas test positive on the Omega and the fourth test. The only other group that ever test that way are some Alphas."

"Shit."

Bruce smiled. "You really know how to stage a paradigm shift, Tony."

"Why hasn't this happened before? Why has no one figured this out? Not that you aren't a genius, but shouldn't this have shook out sooner?"

"Few people could be on Omega suppressants as long as you were. The early ones were designed for rescheduling heats, making travel possible, letting Alphas get home. It wasn't until the 1980s that they were intended for longer duration. Actually, I'm curious as to what Dr. Erskine came up with for Steve. Most people aren't as isolated, aren't in such radically gender imbalanced milieus." Bruce stopped suddenly.

"Bruce?"

"I'm going to see what I can cull from the population studies. It may be that this is why most populations are so balanced. JARVIS, this project rates 'Weaponized' Security. Please prepare mundane research plans for data requests."

"Have fun, Bruce." Tony knew that pull of research, and this wasn't his kind of science.  
\----------------------

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Tony touched Steve, still sex muzzy. Steve cleared much faster. "Were they still silver?"

Steve chuckled. "Are you happy, Tony?"

Was Steve not? Tony wondered why Steve was asking.

"I'm not going to agree to everything, but I need you to ask. Is there something you want or need from me?"

Tony licked Steve. It wasn't a distraction, Tony just didn't have words for this.

"Was it not what you'd thought it would be?"

"You are totally an E ticket." Damn, he could see Steve thinking about the subway. "Theme parks. I am besotted, Steve, always something new to learn." Steve hugged Tony, and he was totally for that. You couldn't be insecure in his arms. "What brought this on?"

"Tony, when you really want something, and then get it, either you want it again or it's not what you expected."

Oh. That. "Did you like it?" He'd loved it.

"Have you thought about it with you on top?"

That was HOT. Tony kissed Steve, knowing they'd lose less in translation that way. "You offering now?"

"Tony, you have to ask. I can't have you editing yourself, thinking I wouldn't want to do something and denying yourself. It's presumptuous."

"I loved having you inside me. Your idea just now, I want that to happen. It's so sexy when you ride me, and riding your cock..." Tony thought. If he was going to be honest, this was the right time. "I've thought about you taking me from behind, mounting me. I, could you fuck me standing up, face to face?"

"I think a wall against your back would be best. Not plaster."

"You don't think this is weird?"

"I love you. I want you happy."

"Nice deflection."

"Tony," Steve stroked his cheek, making Tony roll into it. "Weird isn't bad; lots of this time is weird, and I've got you, so I'm not alone." Steve guided one of Tony's hands onto his stomach. "We're a family."

Tony felt that should scare him but it didn't. That's how much he trusted Steve.

"I might learn to like giving it to your ass."  
Tickling was the only retort to that. Steve had a smart mouth. No one would believe that Captain America's timing was bent to comedy off-field. Blue, true blue comedy. Tony kissed Steve when he needed mercy. Tony never learned; Steve pinning him down wasn't a deterrent.

"Where could I put this?" Steve's hand around Tony's cock contrasted with his sweet delivery. He answered his own question decisively, and Tony agreed enthusiastically.

\------------------

The honeymoon was over. Not between Tony and Steve, they were good. Tony looked at the marauding "Agent, what is this thing?" Ironman blasted the green Sy-Fy reject and it released something caustic. "Note, do not brush into the Bank."

"Which bank?"

Tony let Agent field Natasha's question. Steve was with Coulson, but they were keeping him radio silent. Better to let people believe Captain America was defending and protecting somewhere out of the public eye. They averted the crisis without too much destruction, Steve and JARVIS helping them pick out where to drop the hungry caterpillars. Mostly onto various athletic fields and also two roads. Wave Hill and The New York Botanical Garden were saved.

Decontamination took longer than debrief, Steve and Phil providing Maria Hill a bullet list during Avengers transport. Tony repaired with Steve to their room once they'd eaten. "How are you?"

"Fine."

Tony knew that wasn't truthful. "Try again."

"It's hard staying behind. I finally got to Europe, the dancers had the soldiers' attention, and then I was jumping out of a plane. I kept moving after that; other than the waiting, that's not changed, there's always waiting."

Tony touched Steve's face. There was nothing he could do to fix this. He brought his hand to Steve's stomach. The baby showed only on ultrasound. 'Thicker' averaged over Steve meant he was still a fit slab. Tony looked up.

"I'm not sorry. I'm a lucky man, and that's on you."

"Those are my lines." Tony didn't squeak as he was picked up. Tony was a real Alpha.

Steve liked to fix things. Tony was pretty happy that part of the time Steve figured his cock was what Tony needed. Steve giving it to him against the wall, phenomenal. He loved looking at the upholstered artwork hanging in their bedroom. Tony was also impressed when Steve needed Tony's cock. Really, them naked fixed things.

Steve's mouth was wicked. Tony couldn't think beyond that, not with Steve's mouth on his cock. Then, his cock still in Steve's mouth, Tony was being teased first against one cheek and then the other. "You smell so good." He nuzzled into Steve's groin, teased Steve back by not sucking him in. He relented when he tired of teasing himself. This, this was perfect. Steve was perfect. His mouth was wonderful and his cock Tony adored. Tony lost himself in their loving until he was close, terribly close. He pulled off Steve, replacing his mouth with his hands. "Steve. Too close."

Steve just plied Tony with more pleasure. Tony pleaded, then took Steve back into his mouth. He spurted and Steve swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed. Tony lavished Steve with every flourish and held on as he came. He meant to ask Steve what had possessed him, but Steve looked so smugly satisfied. He got them chest to chest, or close to since he was lapping at Steve's neck. Tony stilled as a wet fingertip circled his hole and looked up. He kissed Steve. "Yeah." He reached back clasping over Steve's hand, pressing Steve's finger slightly deeper.

Steve got him slick, wet with the lube, with one and then two fingers. So slow and gentle, Tony was quivering taut in need. He'd felt like this when he'd been an Omega; Steve's cock, he needed Steve's cock. He'd never been so specific as an Omega. Tony hadn't been bred during his heats. He lets Steve move him, pull him onto Steve's cock. Tony doesn't ride Steve, he's taken care of, in good hands, big, strong gentle hands guiding him along Steve's cock.

"I love your hands. Charcoal smeared, catching your shield, flipping pancakes and frying eggs. I watched you unwrap them after beating up heavy bags." That always seemed more intimate than Steve's ass, perfect as that is.

"You should have said something."

Steve was gone, was deep in the fog of sex. Tony had been an Omega. He had thought recovered Steve was an Alpha, and had been scrupulous with the air filtration. Steve's heat had trumped everything, and Tony was an Alpha, not just a chemical simulation, but an Alpha. Tony could multitask, so he took Steve's sweet loving more than he could have ever wished for, spun out the fantasy of Alpha Steve finally taking Tony apart, and followed the revelation that Steve was an Omega. Reality cushioned every rough corner of an Omega passing as an Alpha taking an Omega presented as an Alpha, of Steve being an asshole, Alphas were assholes. That had been part of Tony's success; he was expert at being an asshole, how could that ever be possible for an Omega?

Steve came. It was something Tony loved, each time was exciting. He started to move, and a hand held the small of his back.

"Unless you're uncomfortable."

"I'm good." Understatement. It got him two reverent, wandering hands. Steve was much better at this than Tony ever had been. "What do you need?" He couldn't shove into Steve, but Steve wouldn't ask for the impossible. Getting Steve to ask for anything was a feat.

"I've got you."

It was a feat Tony wasn't up to. When Steve pulled out Tony was bereft and a touch relieved. He wanted to, he needed to be better for Steve. It just was more than he could manage. Tony tried to slide to the left and was wrapped in Steve's arms.

"Like you on me."

\------------------------------

Steve entered Bruce's lab. He'd had JARVIS request some time of Bruce, and Bruce had told him to come down, none of his current experiments were too dangerous or delicate.

"How can help you?"

Steve exhaled. "What did you learn about Tony becoming an Alpha? Or why he'd been an Omega..."

Bruce smiled. "Tony always had the potential to be an Alpha, but until you-- I think Tony represents a natural variation, and he just wasn't exposed to enough Omegas until now."

"How is that even possible?"

"It is rather mind boggling. However, it has been said that the rich aren't like other people, and this might be one case where it's apt and not just an aphorism. I know you knew Howard Stark--"

"During the War. Even without that, he was a lifetime older when he sired Tony."

"If Howard had sent Tony to an Omega Institute he'd have had the Alpha he wanted." Bruce paused. "Steve, how did no one know you were an Omega?"

Steve smiled wryly. "My parents were Betas. Bucky and I left the orphanage when I presented. It wasn't obvious. Infrequent, faint."

"And you tried to join the Army?"

"There were suppressants. Dr. Erskine knew. Thank you for answering my question."

\---------------------

"Steve?" Tony stepped out onto Steve's floor. He'd been rather surprised when he'd gotten to the penthouse and not found Steve there.

"Hi, Tony."

Steve was drawing. Okay, that wasn't too scary. Tony knew he'd kept most of his supplies down here, beyond his sketchbook, charcoal and pencils. Steve was working in a larger format and sitting at the drawing table. Tony could have offered to add one upstairs.

"What're you working on?" Tony was glad Steve had never been secretive about his drawing. He wasn't uptight about it being seen before completed. Tony looked over Steve's shoulder. "You could have asked JARVIS for a wire model." Tony was not going to panic, Steve wasn't leaving him, not in the same building.

"This is more satisfying."

Tony could hear that Steve hadn't thought about it. "You okay to take a break?" He laid his fingers on Steve's shoulders, pencil up off the page.

"Sure." He set his pencil down in the tray and spun around. "What did you have in mind?"

"Thought you might want a shoulder rub."

"Oh." Steve pushed his chair out a bit and turned back around. "You look nice."

"Board of Directors meeting. Why are you drawing your floor?"

"JARVIS wouldn't let me paint. Walls, he wouldn't let me paint walls."

"Everything causes cancer in California. You want to redecorate?"

"It'll be easier to baby-proof."

Too scary. Tony had been wrong, Steve could run away in the same building.

Steve was gripping Tony's hands. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not Howard." Tony pulled away, but only one hand came free. "I want to be part of our child's life." He found himself being pulled between Steve's legs, strong arms bracketing him. "I want to be a father, not just a sire." Tony watched the play of expressions on Steve's face.

"JARVIS, we'll be needing wire models of the penthouse, this floor and the fabrication lab."

"The fabrication lab?"

"There needs to be a safe place for you to be seen at work."

Tony thought about what he would have given to have had that sort of access. He kissed Steve. This wasn't like rut and it wasn't like heat. This was like honey, liquid and slow.

"When's the Board Meeting?"

Tony pulled back, frustrated with the voice of reason coming from Steve. "I couldn't be coming back from it?"

Steve just looked at him. "I'll stop nesting, you go to the meeting and we'll pick this up later."

Tony was nonplused.

"All of this."

Oh. That gave him two things to look forward to in the meeting. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Steve shook his head, and kissed Tony on the brow. Tony took that with him to his meeting, which now actually mattered to him.

\-----------------------------------------

They moved Steve into one of the guest rooms and stowed some of the furniture. He continued to sleep with Tony and Tony bunked with him during the most invasive part of the remodel. Somehow they still hadn't had to come clean that Captain America and Tony Stark weren't the world's most eligible bachelors anymore. The public had treated the 'revelation' of Captain America as a Beta as a nonevent. Talking heads weren't as blasé, mostly because it freshened up their rhetoric, one group calling it a terrible slander and another as a call for more Beta rights.

"I don't like lying."

"You never said you were a Beta. You just didn't get your Alpha up denying it."

"I didn't say I'm an Omega. Wouldn't that change things? If Betas think--"

Tony crawled over Steve, happy to be back in their bedroom. "Professional Betas think it matters. There's a difference. Steve, America isn't ready. You're a legend, a chunk of history. The world isn't ready to know just how dire things were, what lengths were considered acceptable." If Steve took the heat, Tony would do something rash, like admitting he'd been an Omega.

An Omega as the former Merchant of Death? An Omega that was now an Alpha? Bruce was intrigued by his findings so far, though he was being tightlipped. Even a statistical minority of Alphas that for a different environment could have been Omegas would shake the foundations of society. The notion of parents trying to make children be Alphas--

Steve kissed him out of his thoughts. The contents of this bed was Tony's world. He could love Steve slow, he could smell he was wet. Tony, selfish, wanted Steve inside him. He didn't know if that was from being an Omega for half his life. "How do you want it?"

"Fuck me on my back slow, and afterwards I'll pull you onto my cock."

Tony moved and eased into Steve. He took Steve apart millimeter by millimeter. He ranged his callused hands over smooth expanses of skin. Out of heat he could take his time, could lavish Steve with everything he deserved or at least with everything Tony had.

"What?!" Tony moaned as the slicked finger breached him and unerringly found his hotspot.

"I want you ready. You're going to make me go off and I'm going to be in you as soon as I'm hard again."

Yeah, Steve didn't have a plan. Thing about Steve and plans was he followed them, so he made sure to keep Tony hanging by a hair, spinning things out until Tony couldn't help but orgasm.

Steve slid into him, it felt like they hadn't stopped. He rocked but otherwise Steve was in charge giving it to Tony like the world was at stake. He supposed it was. It didn't take long for languor to take over and Steve to quickly come.

"You could have taken your time." Tony didn't think his suppressants had affected his sex drive, had had a good time before Steve.

"I'm going to."

Tony was confused until Steve had him face down on the bed, covering Tony. He started with Tony's hands, rubbing them with his thumbs, clasping them. Wrists next, forearms. Steve made sweet love to Tony, all of Tony until finally he cradled Tony's balls. 

"I want to try something."

"Go ahead."

Tony let himself be folded, legs bent and ass raised. Steve slid home. It was liquid, smoother than any engine's pistons. Tony was so turned on he was starting to get hard again. He was surprised by the cockring.

"After I get done,I'm flipping you over and riding you."

Right, without the cockring Tony would have exploded. He floated on his fuck, felt Steve achieve satisfaction and then take it again sinking onto Tony's cock. Tony touched as much as he could, looking at Steve. His abdominals were still hard, filled out more. Their child.

"Tony?"

"Don't stop. I'm happy, I'm blessed." He was crying, he now could tell he was. They still hadn't figured out their 'announcement'. Steve was carrying the Stark heir. It might have been easier if Tony had just said he was an Omega and Bonded with Captain America. Who could fault that, Stark Industry stock would probably bounce back. Steve wouldn't lie and Tony didn't think he'd be convincing. Probably wasn't enough when it came to the world's economy.

"You feel so good. Is this what you need?

"You're what I need."

Tony shoved Steve over and got onto his knees, fucking him fast and and deep. "Stroke yourself." It was inspiring, Steve's strong hand wrapped around his cock, sliding fast. Tony broke, spilling into Steve. Tony was muzzily aware of Steve taking his hand and rubbing off against it.

Tony drifted off, content to have Steve pull him close.

\-------------------------------

"What do you mean it had to be this way?"

"Remember, all I have is four known alleles. I don't know if there are others involved."

"But. I can hear a but."

"I don't think any children born of Alpha and Omega parents are either Alphas or Omegas. I'm in a quandary there, take a look." Bruce showed a scatter map.

The problem was that not all of the Alphas were Alphas, nor were all of the Omegas Omegas. "Two genes? Two alleles per, or --"

"At least two alleles each for two genes."

Tony did the math, discarding models that didn't fit. "Which dominates, Alpha or Beta?"

Bruce looked at Tony. "I'm not the right scientist for this. This will be contested, it will be ugly."

Tony knows Bruce is right, that this is a bigger bombshell than he ever designed. "Okay." It doesn't matter, it's not his kind of science. The math he could play with drunk but other than that it's not his thing. He's an Alpha, like everyone wanted and he's got Steve Rogers, which was better than he deserved. There was a fifty-fifty chance their child would be like him, flexible, or a rock-solid Omega.

It was certain there would be a public relations firestorm. "You're still my favorite genius, other than myself of course."

\----------------

"Tony, would you marry me?"

Tony couldn't honestly say that was the last thing he expected Steve to announce. "Did they have marriage back Before?"

Steve gave him that Don't Sass Me look that filled Tony with such love. "Yes, they did have marriage, it came from Europe with the colonists, which was well before Before."

Tony did know that. Marriage was a legal solution to property transfer. They were Bonded.

"Betas don't Bond." Steve looked at Tony.

Tony didn't think he said it outloud. Steve sometimes did this.

"Children of the marriage automatically can have birth certificates with both spouses listed as the parents."

"You know who you want to issue the certificate." Tony had been wondering how they were going to handle that.

"Phillip Coulson."

"It's a good thing you're on our side." Agent would bore reporters into dropping the slavering search for a scoop. There was no rule that a doctor or midwife if in attendance had to sign a birth certificate. Maria's secretary had signed Tony's. "You're okay with reporters asking if our kid is adopted?"

"They can ask. Pepper has an order about them not speculating."

Yeah, Captain America was the Man with a Plan. That was Steve. "Yes, I will marry you. Pepper find you a lawyer?"

"Fury did, and Coulson approved her."

"JARVIS, get a first meeting scheduled for the two lawyers."

"Anthony Edward Stark, do you have any special instructions? And you, Captain Steven Grant Rogers?"

"Standard boilerplate." Tony wasn't going anywhere.

"Heirs to be surnamed Stark." Steve had stopped looking up when speaking to JARVIS. Mostly.

Heirs? Would Steve really do this again? Tony was going to play it cool.

"Very well, Sirs."

Tony looked at Steve. He'd never expected to Bond, what with being an Omega posing as an Alpha. Now he was Bonded, expecting a child and about to be married.

Steve pulled away from the kiss.

"What?" Tony couldn't figure out Steve's expression.

"You're irresistible."

Tony kissed Steve sweet and slow and then a peck at the bridge of his nose. Steve always crossed his eyes, it was cute. "Pretty sure that's you."

\------------------------

The shareholders had to be informed once the papers were signed and submitted. Someone informed the media and a hashtag trended. Some speak of Captain America beholden to The Merchant of Death, others talk about the disregard for the natural order of Bonding. A few follow the economic ramifications, as marriage isn't a common occurence, and billionaires do have cachet. Christine calls for pictures of them canoodling. The memes start mating.

Pepper had given Steve a researcher to ghost-tweet actual news being ignored in favor of the circus. This does draw in the international tabloids, and also some interesting messages of suppport, yet mostly it does move the mass along.

"Christine seems more persistant than usual." Steve paused. "I've not seen anyone secretly work at a meat packing plant for a story, or be institutionalized."

Tony bites down about reporters being less committted. "I might have slept with her."

"Might?"

"So, I did. She hadn't been paying attention, took it more personally. Don't worry about her, she's a good journalist."

"Canoodling is news?"

Tony thought how to explain it. "It could be. There's lots of reasons to marry. Not all of them are wuv sweet wuv."

"Oh."

Tony scratched at Steve's scalp. He'd figure out what path he wanted them to take, view it strategically and tactically. Tony smoothed a hand over Steve's stomach. Their baby had gotten big enough that sometimes Tony could feel it moving. "Think the Hulk material would make good swaddling?"

"What?" Steve looked at him like he was more crazy than usual.

"After the fortress that is you, it's going to feel exposed out here. I'll do some research."

"Will you come to the delivery?"

Tony wasn't looking forward to this. There wasn't a way to even give Steve a local. They had to nearly poison him for a general anesthetic; normally Steve depended on endorphins and adrenaline. "Yes." He would have to watch them cut into Steve. Yeah, it'd be fun. "JARVIS, add it to my schedule."

Steve threaded his fingers between Tony's on his stomach. "Thanks." He twisted his head around and Tony gave him a kiss. Tony was ever amazed how Steve could eel around, and how good he felt encircling Tony.

"Captain Rogers, you have an engagement in forty-five minutes."

"I'll cash this raincheck later."

Tony boggled. No wonder people bought that Captain America was an Alpha. Well, science worked to change frustration from sexual to intellectual. His lab awaited. "Make sure you do."

\------------------------------

Steve gives Christine an interview. Tony doesn't really want him near her, she had been terrible to Pepper in Monaco.

"How does the present compare to the past?"

"There's reliable refrigeration. Food comes in so many varieties. I'd had avocados before, when I sold war bonds out west. It's possible to get things to market that before might have had to be fed to livestock for lack of transport.

There are vaccines for things that almost killed me, that took a terrible toll in the neighborhood. I'm looking forward to polio being gone like smallpox. Mumps, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox. They used to prowl, claiming victims. And then there are antibiotics, they existed back then, a lot of men wouldn't have survived the war without them."

"What do you miss?"

"The Dodgers. I've been listening to the games. There are a lot of things, but I know that nearly seventy years have passed. Not enough time for some, it seems."

"Oh?"

"There's not full equality yet. There are still schools that aren't structually sound and free of vermin. Hunger walks in the land of plenty. Workers are increasingly insecure and profit less from their labors. Sometimes I'll realize things that were supposed to be just until the war was over have been fixed and repaired until it would have been cheaper to start over."

Tony, according to plan, lets Steve get through his program, because of course Steve has a program. Out of uniform, he looks like a kid, one that it's easy to forget was fighting WWII not so long ago. He's good at making people feel they can make a difference. Then, Tony holds up his end.

"Steve-- Oh, Christine, sorry to interrupt." He makes for his escape.

"Tony, how did you two decide to marry?"

"When one lawyer that's very well paid and another lawyer is also well paid..."  
Steve kisses him. It was the plan, and it's a strain not to give Christine and the photographer too much of a show. He sits beside Steve. "It made sense. More sense than most things I've done."

"Steve, what do you want to say about the speculation? You have been back a relatively short time, there was an alien invasion, the world is strange and Tony is the son of someone you knew."

"Life is fragile. Sometimes you get lucky, but only if you recognize the fact and follow through. The rest is just an accident of history."

There is a bit more to the interview, but he can tell Christine has what she needs. She was after the photo, but working for Vanity Fair there had to be an article too. He's a bit afraid she'll notice he's different. There might be threads to pull to unravel his past as a secret Omega.

\----------------------

Their bedroom had a stair that led to what had been his main floor, and then continued down to Steve's, with a railing that wrapped around the cut out. The clear iris could withstand the weight of the Ironman suit dropping onto it, and it closed with less force than a retriever's jaw. Tony had finally allowed the workmen to fill the hole Loki had 'helped' the Hulk make. The galactic cloud had never looked better suspended in polymer.

His bar had been moved. It was replaced with a marble and chrome soda fountain shop counter and swing out seats. The professional kitchen hadn't been touched except for upgrading the door. Here had tap and sink, microwave and convection ovens, shake mixer, fridge. There was a more complete kitchen below.

Tony looked at the nursery, how real was that? The crib was ordered, but Steve had refused having it delivered before the event. It was superstition, and Tony didn't like magic, but freaking out Steve wasn't something he did lightly. The room's floor was green-gray linoleum, anti-static, there were two rocking chairs and a loveseat. There were cupboards with tambor doors, and a rug worked as a green and lilac checkerboard.

Soon. Their baby would be here soon. He didn't know how to deal with Steve not minding that he was going to be sliced open. So, it wasn't meatball surgery. So, serum healing meant that Steve could come home the next day.

He'd done this to Steve. He had never done anything to deserve Steve. He'd done plenty of things--

"It looks great." Steve hugged him from behind. Tony leaned back against his chest. Soon. Steve kissed him under one ear and then the other. That felt so good.

"You've great taste." He still didn't forgive SHIELD for that plaid shirt. Didn't they understand that barring giving it off Steve's back, he'd never be rid of it? Steve had braided a rug out of Tony's ruined suits and cut a handkerchief out of a ruined dress shirt.

"You're more filling."

Tony tried looking back and up at Steve. Steve looked innocent; that must have helped with the nuns. "That an invitation?"

"Do you need one?"

Oh, an engraved come on self-portrait, how Tony wanted that. "How about I take a look at your etchings?" They left the nursery.

Tony almost bought that Steve had misunderstood him. Steve was good, he'd just needed a better percentage of shared references than the Wizard of Oz could provide. Tony propped himself up from where Steve had pulled him down. "That never gets old?"

"Nope." Steve pulled him over him.

It really didn't. Physics was always sexy and sexy physics was log. Making love to Steve was wonderful, he lavished attention on his inner elbows, flicked his tongue against one nipple, doing the other only after he made Steve wait for it. He had Steve vibrating and wet before he slid home, taking him fast hard and steady. Steve was so beautiful being taken apart. He did come apart. Tony followed and drifted on the bliss. "Love you, Steve, love you so much." He fell asleep wrapped tight.

\-----------------

Tony could do this. Steve had told him not to come in right away, which Tony sort of understood, but there was the cold feet he wasn't telling Steve about. He wasn't the one being cut open, he didn't need to be sedated. Right, in he goes. Door slides open, doesn't need to open it with his ass.

"What?" Tony has learned each of Steve's smiles, and that one, that's a good kind of trouble. He passes Steve his brilliant idea and sits down on his left side. Good, there is a little tent, he doesn't have to watch them gut his Steve.

"Huh?" Steve looks at the metal hand. It wriggles its fingers and he doesn't drop it but it does move more than its own momentum.

Tony shows the control rig on his left hand. "You hold that, and I'll stroke your arm on this side."

"Kiss me."

Tony does, and is swimming a bit when they break for air.

"Now."

Tony wasn't expecting that, though if he'd really thought about it he should have. He gripped his rigged hand, he squeezed Steve's arm. He's not sure he wants to look Steve in the eye, but he does anyway. Steve smiles at Tony over his not-grimace and waggles his right hand clasped around the metal substitute.

And then there is a bawl.

"Do you want cut the umbilical cord?" 

Tony might have thought it was something the doctor forgot not to ask, except the instrument was sitting on a tray. He looked at Steve. Okay. He could do this. He picked up the medical scissors and snipped just past the clip. The baby was passed to Steve. Tony reached over for his remote articulated prosthesis. He slipped the grip imprinted metal back into his pocket. He couldn't tell much about their child, still bloody and drawing warmth from Steve's chest and big hands. Finally the doctor had Steve sewn back together and whisked the baby away for diagnostics. Tony was thinking he should clean up Steve, or not care about the blood, when Steve pulled away the sterile tent and unbuckled restraints.

Unbuckled. Tony couldn't get over Steve feeding leather past metal.

"Tony." Steve was clasping him by the shoulders. "I didn't want to risk jerking. I buckled them."

Tony hugged Steve. He kissed the side of Steve's face. Then he though about Steve's incision. He took a look, the glue like a scab over a pink line.

The doctor came back with the baby, and Tony intercepted the hand off to Steve. "Hey, beautiful." He might have practiced with a wireframe and a weighted doll. "Are you supposed to be sitting up?"

"I'm okay." Steve lay back down as Tony looked at him. "Want to wheel me to my room?"

He'd have to give Steve the baby. "Can I have a few more moments?" Steve snagged him with his left arm.

\---------------------------

"Tony?" He looked back at Steve, wearing just sleep pants. Their quarters had night illumination that mimicked the arc reactor, so the blue uplight wasn't his special stain. He'd thought about testing for the antigen. He'd thought about forgetting about it.

"Make me cocoa?" He stepped out of Geoffrey's room. He looked out onto the city, the city that wouldn't exist if Steve hadn't crashed Schimidt's airship, the crash that gave them this chance. "He's not a Beta."

"There's a test."

"There is a test, a test to find out if he's like me. The question is, do we test? Do we raise him like an Omega and roll the dice at puberty? We could stack the deck if he is like me."

"Tony, I hope he is like you, brilliant, courageous and charming. None of those need a test. Howard is the one that was wrong. I can't say I'm entirely sorry though, because I don't know how I'd handle Now without you." Steve dropped in lots of minimarshmallows and handed him the mug. "Explain about the test."

"I've got an Alpha gene, real Alphas have two. Omegas don't have the gene."

"But you can present as an Omega with one, or as an Alpha."

"Right." Maybe the Serum had enhanced more than Steve's muscles; there was no baseline taken. "You know about bloodtyping? That's an antigen test, if you have the protein it causes the test to curdle."

"So if you test for the Alpha gene, you wouldn't know if it's one or two, just none or some. How did you know he's not a Beta?"

"Neither of us have a copy of the gene."

"So if they'd had that test back then, they'd have known I wouldn't be a Beta."

"And?" Tony had been so wrapped up in himself he hadn't even thought about this.

"I don't know. It was like a lottery; winning didn't have to make you happy but it changed things. I wouldn't have made a good Omega then."

"Because fighting a war is so much easier."

"A lot of it, yes. Peace is harder than fighting. I think I forgot that, didn't know that when I woke up. I knew who the enemy was in the War; it's not so clear off the battlefield."

Tony thought about that. Howard had never left the War behind, Tony knew kill ratios and the use of premeditated maiming before he could shave. Clean kills didn't tie up resources like injuries. The shrapnel he took, the legs and arms IEDs claimed were all meant to break the enemy's resolve. And then you had Obie.

Steve touched him, embraced him. Tony didn't deserve this. But maybe he hadn't deserved the bad things either. He reached back to clasp Steve's head.

\--------------------------------

"Tony." They are Assembling, it's the first call after Steve's recovery week. Steve hasn't pulled up his cowl, he looks like he did in those old reels, young and strong.

"What, Cap?"

"Would you sit this one out?"

Why? Tony acknowledged this wasn't a big fight. They were taking Bruce, so it wasn't a milkrun either.

"I'd just feel better about Geoffrey..."

"Okay." Tony would ask later. "Since I'm not going out" he gives the signal to start removing the armor and pulls Steve in for a sound kiss. "Come back carrying your shield, not the other way around." He pulls Steve's cowl up and tugs the mask just so. Once the last piece of armor is stowed Tony heads for the Control Room.

He thinks Coulson has an expression. Either that or gas. He's not burping their Agent. Tony throws himself into being extra eyes and ears, and largely keeps his heart out of his throat. There are a couple times he thinks he might have swooped in for a rescue if he was in the field. Cap is fine. Oh, is Steve fine. It's going take some time getting used to heroing together now that they're Bonded. He's sure it can be done. Captain America is a big part of Steve, it didn't all come out of a bottle. He is Ironman. Today, it might have been too hard.

"JARVIS, place the order for food." JARVIS has all their food preferences noted and was much better at choosing than Tony would be. He stays in position until all the team are in motion. They did end up needing Bruce. Tony goes into the nursery. Their boy is sleeping. He wants to give him safety, but knows they, Steve and himself, will risk themselves time and time again. They can only do their best. It's not enough. He goes out to await the team.

\------------------------

"Honey, you're home." Tony plants one on Steve. He hadn't planned on Steve scooping him up and turning them slowly. He might rock a little from where he's latched his thighs around Steve's waist.

"Pick a room." Barton was laying into the food.

"This one." Damn it, Steve was putting him down.

"How's Geoff?

"Sleeping."

"JARVIS." Tony was proud that Steve had subroutines set up with his AI, and that Steve could leverage tech that was cutting edge even now. Their child slept on as a full-color hologram.

"Why didn't we know the holograms can look like that?"

"Because the wireframes are efficient." Tony cups a handful of Steve's ass before moving his hand to Steve's hip. He hadn't set the needed arrays anywhere except his floors and the main common rooms; he'd added them to Steve's floor during the remodel. "You need to eat." Steve let JARVIS end the hologram of their sleeping son.

Tony and Coulson hold up most of the conversation until the rest sate their hunger enough to speak.

"It was good to have back our shieldbrother, your America's Captain. We don't have to choose, between you, Man of Iron and the Captain?"

Great, he'd wanted to have that conversation privately.

"I wanted to get my feet under me without ordering Tony about."

"Very wise, our Captain." Thor slapped Steve on the shoulder. Tony is glad it wasn't his shoulder. Except it is, but Tony manages not to growl. Thor is their friend, and Steve can take Asgardian pats. He resists checking for a bruise.

"Ordering me about doesn't come as second nature to you yet?" Tony reads so much in Steve's look. Yeah, today wasn't the day, and he's glad they both know that. That they both accept there will be a day, and another after that. Tony leans in and kisses Steve.The glint in Steve's eye as they separate is promising, and the little twitch to his lip suggests his mouth has something smart to say but is keeping it just for them.

They stay with the others until Geoff wakes up. Seeing to him doesn't take long, Tony changes and feeds him, and then Steve changes him again. Geoff is a Stark, high maintenance; Tony loves him so much. Sometimes he whispers that to him. He hopes that they'll each be able to tell Geoff that when he can remember, that he'll be old before he needs memories.

"First nature."

Oh, what a naughty boy is Cap. He pulls Steve into their room. "Order away." Steve smiles, dips his chin and then he's very clear and specific. Tony does salute below the waist, and mouths another 'salute' once he's got Steve's shirt off. "You could stop with the buttondowns." It might lose something said against Steve's skin, but Tony doesn't care. At least it's not that plaid one. Steve never wears that one when Tony might 'accidentally' rip it off him. Tony pulls Steve's belt from the loops, unbuttons and unzips the fly, rubbing his face over the tented fabric. He's followed orders and he's eager for the next command.

"Your mouth. Take me, my cock, with your mouth." Tony is very good with orders he agrees with, though he does go about it in his own flourishing way. He takes Steve to the brink and veers off over and over until his jaw is sore and he's uncertain if he's repeating himself. Steve comes hard. He guides Steve into a crouched ball on the bed and fucks him hard slung over his back. Tony can't last as long as he'd like, but he stays hard after he comes. "Whaad?"

Steve stretches out keeping Tony balanced on his back and butt, squeezing around him now and then. Tony kisses between Steve's shoulderblades. He doesn't quite doze, it'd be unpatriotic and he is all about doing his booty. He smiles as Steve shifts with more intent.

"Need your hands. Jerk me, touch my nipples."

Tony follows the letter but not the intent, because he is slow, deliberate and takes Steve apart millimeter by millimeter. Tony is towed into a second orgasm as Steve pushed up and dropped again and again. He's almost aware as Steve cleans him up, hot cloth on his lax dick. He's smug as he feels Steve against his thigh. He doesn't tease this time, "lube me up and stick it in." 

He'd get hard from Steve's careful stretching if he had anything left to give, but his blood is doing rounds in his circulatory system. It feels good, Steve's cock sliding past his prostate, big hands shifting Tony's legs, smoothing over his skin. It's like old scotch, smoke and heat without burn. They might just be using proprietary slick, something industrial that happens to be food grade. Stark Industries patent. Tony clenches every so often, too muzzy to open his eyes but wanting Steve to keep going. Tony smiles as Steve finally breaks, jerks and climaxes. He falls asleep against Steve.

\--------------------------

The next fight there is no question about going in underpowered. In fact, the next fight ends up with the Fantastic Four joining in and Rhodey on his way. Somehow the destruction is contained to the slated demolitions along the Brooklyn waterfront. Mostly. It doesn't roll out into the parks. Tony follows orders, Steve doesn't spare him, so that's all good. Weird was what it was when Johnny Storm stopped being on fire.

"What the hell was that, Rogers?!" Tony can't find a place to poke Steve with a finger, much less push with a hand. He's that bloody and raw. Given that Steve's sitting, maybe Tony could spank him. Still in the Ironman armor he had scattered the EMTs pulling out debris once the pieces were basically splinters. He popped the faceplate. He never wanted to see Steve throwing his life away again. He knew he didn't get that. This was not a nuke in Manhattan, there had been time. "I hate owing Richards." That paled compared...

"I saw a way to end the fight and I took it."

"No." Tony crouched into a three-point. "We're not the Commandos. Ending a fight is not sufficient reason. Doomsday devices, yes." Tony didn't want to have to say what was worth Steve's life. "Civilian lives, yes." He paused, reminding himself Steve knew how to save small groups without undue risk. "And certain bizarre options like escapes to the Middle Ages, comprehensive mind control, and... Really, this is the reason I'm not supervillian material."

"Not just that." Steve stroked Tony's eyebrow with a fingernail top. "Let's go home." Steve stood, and while his expression didn't change, it did harden. Tony followed, pushing down the desire to never let Steve into combat again.

Tony checked in with JARVIS for a little visual confirmation of Geoff's well being. Their nanny was retired MI-6. Steve was chewing a jerky bar, a snack after the nutrient pouch he'd been sipping on as they treated him.

Tony, after a day in the suit, needed pounding hot water. He looked at Steve stripping out of the ruined uniform. He'd be subjecting that to analysis later, there had to be ways to better protect Steve without sacrificing flexibility. Steve was a Rorschach of healing pink and still open wounds. "How deep were those?"

"Most of those were punctures." Steve stepped into one end of the shower, letting a mist of water send red, then pink rivulettes down his skin. "Tony?"

Tony stepped in, directing the hard spray so it didn't splash Steve. Punctures. They were still open because SHIELD's embedded EMT had sliced in to pull out shrapnel and irrigate. "And the rest?"

"Burns."

Tony fought going to start that analysis immediately. He was mostly succeeding in treating himself better, and he needed to stay with Steve. He rinsed the shampoo from his hair and beard. "Hungry?"

"Nap first."

Tony herded Steve under the vent of the dryer and into the silk pjs that kept him from getting lint stuck inside his skin. Tony never needed that excuse for simple pleasures. He gave a few deep presses against the soles of Steve's feet before laying down himself.

\----------------------------

They decide not to test Geoff right away, but that they will before he's ten. That seems like a long time in the future, but Tony knows it's not. Tony doesn't know what they should do, if the results show Geoffrey has an Alpha gene. It would be easy to get him into an Omega boarding school.

There would be time to fret that question. At least he hoped there was time, there were few guarantees and he was but a man in the world's most expensive tin can. For now, he just marveled at how much Geoff changed from day to day. He'd gotten past that sleeping when not eating phase, apparently faster than the norm. Their son had had a bit of an advantage though, having stayed a bun longer. Tony hadn't noticed, he'd known there was a fudge factor to nine months, and he wasn't the best at recognizing the passage of time.

Tony still spent a lot of time in the lab, but much less time sleep-deprived 'inventing'. Part of that was he didn't fear his bed. Steve was sure to be there for at least four hours sleeping, and could be enticed to be there longer. That might not directly lead to more sleep, though after a few bouts even Tony tended to zonk out. He tried to come out for meals unless he really was under a time crunch, and then Steve made sure he ate.

Geoff wriggled and Tony scooped him up. Steve pointed out that Omegas and Alphas weren't really all so different. Steve had been raised as a Beta. Bruce had been expected not to be a Beta. Howard had shamed him for being an Omega, unaware that Steve had been one. Tony had pretended to be an Alpha and now he was one.

Maybe by the time Geoff was tested Tony would know what to do, if their son was flexible.

**Author's Note:**

> In this series, though the situation is AU, I'm presenting the scientific method. It's a matter of becoming progressively less distant in the models.


End file.
